Three long-time aircraft-spotters from the Netherlands show you a selection of pictures out of their personal collections. Especially featured is the memorable Republic (R) F-84F Thunderstreak / Thunderflash fighter bomber and recce aircraft.

U.K.

On 11-12 July 1972 Frank and Hans were invited to visit the NATO Helicopter Meet that was organized at Naval Air Station Lee-on-Solent, in Britain. The flight to and fro was made in Fokker F-27 “C-8” of the K.Lu. Participating to the Meet were delegations from the RAF (Whirlwind helis),Royal Navy (Wessex-helis), USAFE (Huskies), R.Danish Navy (Alouette IIIs), R.Danish Air Force (Sikorsky S-61s), R.Neth.AF (Alouette IIIs) , R.Neth.Navy (Agusta-Bell UH-1s) , French Navy (Alouette IIIs) , WGAF (Bell UH-1s), WGNavy (Sikorsky H-34s) and Italian AF (Agusta-Bell 204Bs).

In August 1970 RAF Alconbury , U.K. (now closed) was the home of the 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing (USAFE) , equipped with McDonnell RF-4C Phantoms . Hans and Frank visited the base during that month on different days , via official invitation and as aircraft-spotters. (special thanks to Mr. A. Wever, who was Hans’ travel-companion at the time)

In August 1970 (on different days) Hans and Frank made a trip to the U.K. to visit several USAFE -air bases , both via official invitation and in the quality of aircraft-spotters. One of the locations visited was RAF Mildenhall , which was – and still is -the main facility in the U.K. for USAF & USN -air transport operations. The “PG” and “”SR”-coded C-130 Hercules a/c were on deployment from the U.S. at the time. This is a photo-report.

While en-route from the RIAT at RAF Fairford , U.K. back to the ferry-boat in July 1987 , Hans made an overnight-stop to pay a visit to Duxford , U.K. Located there is the Imperial War Museum, which houses a large collection of ex-military aircraft , especially of World War Two-origin. This gallery shows just a few pictures of the in – and outdoor exhibitions.